Ort School of Engineering in Jerusalem Aided by $4 Million Pledge by Women’s American Ort

A gala ceremony will mark the official dedication Sept. 14 of the ORT School of Engineering on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, it was announced by Ruth Eisenberg, president of Women’s American ORT who will lead a nationwide delegation.

Among those attending the dedication ceremony will be Israeli President Ephraim Katzir, Education Minister Aharon Yadlin, Labor Minister Moshe Baram, Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, and Hebrew University President Avraham Harman. In addition to the Women’s American ORT delegation, there will also be ORT representatives from Switzerland, Britain, other “ORT nations” and major contributors.

Mrs. Eisenberg said that the ORT School of Engineering, toward whose construction Women’s American Ort has pledged $4 million, will “maintain the very highest theoretical and pedagogic standards; will contain the most sophisticated equipment; will employ the finest teachers available and will engage in the most highly advanced didactic and production methods.”

She stated that the ORT School of Engineering “will fulfill a vital need in Israel: it will train practical engineers–that level of engineering which stands between theoretical engineering and the factory foreman. In our world of developing technology,” she said, “the practical engineer plays a central role in production: he transmits pure engineering concepts into practical engineering processes.”

WILL HAVE 2500 STUDENTS

The ORT School of Engineering in Jerusalem, when fully completed, will house a student body of 2500, and will comprise an area of 194,000 square feet. The school will offer top level courses in environmental engineering, electronics engineering, computer science and data processing engineering, instrumentation engineering and mechanical engineering.

It will include its own electronic computer; a closed-circuit TV and distribution center, an industrial training workshop to demonstrate and test modern industrial methods, up-to-date lecture halls, demonstration rooms, workshops, laboratories, resources centers and a pilot-plant for chemical processing.

AT THE APEX OF ORT-ISRAEL NETWORK

Mrs. Eisenberg said that the new ORT School of Engineering will “stand at the apex of the ORT- Israel network, which is comprised of 380 training units throughout the length and breadth of the country, a teaching staff of some 2300 and an annual student enrollment of nearly 50,000. Since its establishment in 1949, ORT-Israel has graduated 135,000 Israelis. Over a quarter of a million Israelis, or 1/6 of the work force, have received ORT training in schools in other countries prior to their immigration.

Mrs. Eisenberg stated that the first section of the School to be completed “is the School of Electronics Engineering Building.” She said that “there is a natural connection between Israel and the burgeoning field of electronics which depends on advanced technology and sophisticated skills. The electronics industry requires little in the way of natural resources which are scarce in Israel, but much in the way of technical knowledge and skilled workmanship, to which Israel has ready access. ORT, by providing a dynamic, innovative vocational education network, is helping greatly to build the nation’s economy.”